The Russian airline UTair has confirmed the abduction of two its employees in Darfur, Sudan.
"Two
employees of the airline UTair working under a contract with the United
Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) were abducted by
unknown persons in the town of Zalingei, Sudan, at around 10:30 a.m. on
Jan. 29," read the company's statement.
"The UNAMID minibus was trapped by six vehicles. The
passengers had to get off the bus at gunpoint and were taken away in an
unknown direction."
UTair is collaborating with
UNAMID representatives and diplomatic missions to continue the search for
its missing employees and is taking the utmost efforts toward that end.
There have been no demands made by the abductors as of yet, according to the statement.
The Russian Embassy in Sudan has already established an
emergency operations center as part of efforts to secure the release of the
two Russian citizens as soon as possible, embassy
press attache Artur Safukov told Interfax.
"The Russian embassy is
actively working and is taking all necessary measures to secure the
release of the Russian citizens as soon as possible and establish all details
and circumstances of the incident," said Safukov .
"An emergency operations
center has already been established and is working to investigate this
abduction and secure the Russians' release as soon as possible," he
said, declining to provide further details.
All rights reserved by Rossiyskaya Gazeta.
Subscribe
to our newsletter!
Get the week's best stories straight to your inbox